Explain the irony in “to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind legs. A few months of training had done for that really fine chap.” (heart of darkness)

The irony is in saying that seeing a dog wearing pants (parody of breeches) was an uplifting or edifying sight which is really not true and which is comical when visualized.

Explanation:

An irony is expressing ones thoughts in words that mean the opposite to achieve humor. The narrator in this instance was looking down on the fireman by comparing him to a dog wearing pants and a feather hat.

He thus compared him to an animal and in the same instance, said that it was an edifying sight. He also called him a fine chap in the same breath. This is quite contradictory and that is how he achieved the use of irony in those lines.

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)